Remote controlled window washer for high rise buildings



Oct. 3, 1967 s. A. MIKALSON 3,344,454

REMOTE CONTROLLED WINDOW WASHER FOR HIGH RISE BUILDINGS Filed Feb. 18, 1966 3 I s Sheets-Sheet 1 M4, 72A 74 5a 90 15 84 INVEN'JOR.

SEVERINE ALBERT MIKALSOI Fig.4 ja & 14m

Oct. 3, 1967 s. A. MIKALSON 3,344,454

REMOTE CONTROLLED WINDOW WASHER FOR HIGH RISE BUILDINGS Filed Feb. 18, 1966 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENIOR. SEVERINE ALBERT MIKALSON 6 BY 142w & 54mm Fig.6

Oct. 3, 1967 s. A. MIKALSON 3,344,454

REMOTE CONTROLLED WINDOW WASHER FOR HIGH RISE BUILDINGS Filed Feb. 18, 1966 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 38 M (ID/34 75 l I Q I r Q I 94 I I50 m I I5 I as I82 muse I84 '66 I80 I20 l I .1 I I38 ML I40 L g; H8 Fig-7 80 2!) l) POWER SUPPLY I WASHER I \I22 I34 OFF Q ON '36 @IN OUT I42 44 v @LEFT RIGHTQ) I54 I56 @up 'DOWNG MACHINE UP oowu Fig.8 I70 I72 LEFT RIGHT INVENIOR.

MAGNET SEVERINE ALBERT MIKALSON OFF ON BY '26 161010 8 34km United States Patent 3,344,454 REMOTE CONTROLLED WINDOW WASHER FOR HIGH RISE BUILDINGS Severine Albert Mikalson, 257 B Ave., Coronado, Calif. 92118 Filed Feb. 18, 1966, Ser. No. 538,518 11 Claims. (Cl. 15-50) The present invention relates to cleaning apparatus and specifically to a remote controlled window washer for high rise buildings.

Many high rise buildings having large expanses of windows or glass walls are equipped with tracks or guides on the Walls to guide a platform which is suspended from the top of the building. Workers standing on the platform clean the windows manually. The operation is dangerous, uncomfortable and time consuming.

The primary object of this invention is to provide a window washer which rides on the outside of a building and is controlled remotely by an operator in the building, in fact on the inside of the window being cleaned, so that the progress of the washer can be inspected continuously.

Another object of this invention is to provide a window washer which will move in any direction over the wall surface of a building and is easily positioned at individual windows or areas to be cleaned, the machine being anchored in place and the cleaning performed by a travelling head which is fully controllable to cover a large area from one position of the machine.

Another object of this invention is to provide a window washer which carries its own supply of water and cleanser and which collects the used liquids to prevent splashing or run-off down the walls.

A further object of this invention is to provide a window washer which takes advantage of the steel structure used in most buildings by utilizing a magnetic anchor to hold the machine in place.

Another object of this invention is to provide a window washer which requires only a suspension rail around the top of the building and is otherwise independent of guides or tracks on the building.

The structure of the machine and its control system are shown in the drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevation view of the machine suspended from a building;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged side elevation view of the complete machine;

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged top plan view of the cleaning head;

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged front elevation view of the 1 suspension carriage;

FIGURE 5 is a view of the machine as taken from the left hand side of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 6 is an enlarged sectional view taken on line 66 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 7 is a wiring diagram of a control system for the machine; and

FIGURE 8 is a view of the control panel used by the operator.

Similar characters of reference indicate similar or identical elements and portions throughout the specification and throughout the views of the drawings.

The machine comprises a casing 10 on which the mechanism is mounted, the casing container a fluid reservoir 12 for cleaning fluid and a drainage tank 14 to hold the used fluid. Casing 10 may be of any suitable configuration and is shown as a rectangular box for simplicity. On top of casing 10 is a suspension lug 16, from which a suspension cable 18 leads to a reel 20 mounted on a suspension carriage 22, which rides on a rail 24 secured horizontally around the top of a building. On a common shaft 26 with reel 20 is a further reel 28 on which is wound a power cable 30 extending to a connection 32 on casing 10. Shaft 26 is driven by a reversible hoist motor 34, so that the suspension and power cables are extended or retracted equally to avoid tangling. Carriage 22 has rollers 36 which ride on rail 24, at least one of the rollers being driven by a reversible traverse motor 38 to move the machine laterally across the face of the building.

On the inner side of casing 10, or the wall confronting side thereof, is a horizontal track 40 extending on both sides of the machine, and mounted on the track is a horizontal carriage 42 riding on rollers 44. At opposite ends of track 40 are pulleys 46 around which is an endless drive cable 48 suitably secured at one point to carriage 42. One pulley 46 is driven by a reversible motor 50, so that the horizontal carriage 42 can be driven in either direction along track 40.

Fixed to the carriage 42 is a vertical track 52 on which a vertical carriage 54 rides on rollers 56. At the upper ends of vertical track 52 are pulleys 58 carrying an endless drive cable 60 which is connected to carriage 54, the upper pulley being driven by a reversible motor 62 to raise or lower the carriage on the vertical track. The vertical and horizontal tracks may be of any suitable type to provide rigid supports for the moving carriages.

Vertical carriage 54 carries the cleaning head 64, which comprises a frame 66 on which are mounted two horizontally spaced cylindrical brushes 68 rotatable on vertical shafts 70. On the shafts 70 are gears 72 driven from a common drive gear 74 on a reversible motor 75. Between the brushes 68 is a vertical squeegee blade '76 projecting slightly beyond the brushes and extending the full length thereof. Frame 66 has brackets 78 pivotally attached on a vertical hinge axis to a pair of vertically spaced, telescopic struts 80 fixed on vertical carriage 54. Struts 88 contain extension springs 82 which bias the cleaning head 64 outwardly from the carriage 54, the cleaning head being pulled back by a retraction cable 84 wound on a drum 86 and driven by a reversible retraction motor 88.

At the top of cleaning head 64 are two spray nozzles 98, attached to frame 66 in any suitable manner, the nozzles being directed inwardly toward brushes 68. A delivery hose 92 extends from nozzles to a pump 94 on reservoir 12. At the lower end of frame 66 is a collector funnel 96 from which a drain hose 98 leads to drainage tank 14.

Extending from casing 18 below the horizontal track 40 are vertically spaced supports 100, between which is mounted a horizontally disposed, endless crawler belt 102, the belt being carried on wheels 104, one of which is driven by a reversible motor 106. Crawler belt 102 rests on the building surface while the cleaning head is in operation and stabilizes the machine with the vertical track 52 in proper vertical position.

On the lower end of the casing 10 are bearings 108 in which is journalled an axle 110 carrying a pair of legs 112 with wheels 114 at the ends thereof. The legs 112 normally hang so that wheels 114 are clear of the wall, but may be actuated to swing the wheels upwardly against the Wall, as in broken line in FIGURE 2, so that the machine is pushed away from the wall and supported on said wheels. This action can be accomplished by a motor and gear drive, or more simply, as shown, by an arm 116 extending from axle 110 and connected to an actuator, such as a solenoid 118.

Below crawler belt 102 are electromagnets 120 extending from casing 10 toward the building, but terminating just short of the building contacting face of the belt, so that the magnets do not scrape against the building. Normally the weight of the machine will be sufiicient to hold the unit in place while in operation, but the electromagnets can be used for extra stability on many buildings by their attraction to steel structure in the building.

The machine is operated from a control panel 122, which may be conveniently arranged as in FIGURE 8. Two sets of commands are used, those which operate the machine to position the unit on a building and those which operate the washer While the basic machine is held motionless. For the washer itself the functions comprise In and Out motion of the cleaning head 64 on telescopic struts 80, Left and Right motion along horizontal track 40, and Up and Down motion along vertical track 52. For the machine the functions are Up and Down by means of the hoist on the suspension carriage 22, and Left and Right by means of crawler belt 102 and the lateral drive of suspension carriage 22. Push buttons are indicated for these functions, but two way switches or compound control sticks would be equally suitable. These functions require ten signals or channels of control data. An On/Off switch 124 for the brushes 68 and pump 94 utilizes another channel and an On/Olf switch 126 for magnets 120 another, making a total of twelve channels.

The machine is preferably operated by radio from a portable remote control panel 122 operated by an attendant within the building and stationed most of the time immediately inside the window being cleaned so that the attendant can very accurately direct the operation. Several types of twelve channel radio control systems are available as off-the-shelf items and are readily adaptable to the present machine. The steel framework of the building may shield radio signals and the control panel can be shifted to avoid this shielding. For example, when it is desired to move the cleaner from the bottom to the top of the building the control panel might be carried outside the building so that the signal would not be unduly shielded or interrupted. Conventional control apparatus normally has fail safe characteristics so that any commanded movement would stop should the command signal be interrupted. The commands usually take the form of distinct audio tones modulated on a basic carrier frequency, each tone representing one channel and actuating a related circuit in the radio receiver through a tuned reed or selective oscillator system. Several commands can be given simultaneously without interference. Since the radio circuitry can vary considerably, the channel functions are represented diagrammatically in FIGURE 7 as control units, the single or double functions being indicated by directional arrows.

The wiring diagram separates the apparatus into the machine unit 128 and the washer unit 130 to correspond with control panel 122. All power is supplied from a common source through cable 30, a main switch 132 being provided to turn the power On or Off. Switch 132 may be at any convenient location on casing and would be turned on when commencing operation of the machine.

Relating the control panel 122 to the wiring diagram, push buttons 134 and 136 actuate a two channel control unit 138 which operate a double acting relay 140 controlling power to the motor 88 for retracting or extending the cleaning head 64. Push buttons 142 and 144 actuate a two channel control unit 146 which operates a double acting relay 148 controlling motor 50, to move the cleaning head laterally. Brush driving motor 75 and pump 94 are together coupled in parallel with motor 50, motors 75 and 50 operating in a common direction depending on polarity of the power supply. A separate, normally open, single acting relay 150 is used to control motor 75 and pump 94, so that motor 50 can operate without the brushes and pump functioning. Relay 150 is closed by a single channel control unit 152 actuated in the On position of switch 124. Push buttons 154 and 156 actuate a two channel control unit 158 which operates a double ended relay 176 controlling traverse motor 38 and crawler belt drive motor 106 in parallel and in synchronization. The drive mechanisms of the motors 38 and 106 are designed so that the crawler belt 132 moves the machine across the building at the same speed as the suspension carriage 22. Relay 168 has an extra, normally closed contact 178 and relay 176 has a similar normally closed contact 180. Magnets are connected to the power supply through contacts 178 and 180 in series, so that operation of either relay 168 or 176 in either direction will de-energize the magnets and allow the machine to move freely. The magnets 120 are also controlled independently by a simple relay 182 operated by a single channel control unit 184, which responds to the switch 126. The wiring diagram is merely an example of an operable system and other arrangements may be used. Conventional limit switches (not shown) may be used to prevent over travel of the Washer unit on tracks 40 and 52.

In operation the machine is raised or lowered and positioned laterally to bring the window area to be washed within the extent of travel of the washer. Cleaning head 64 is then extended and switch 124 operated to start the brushes 68 and pump 94. At the same time push buttons 142 and 144 are used to move the cleaning head laterally in the required direction across the window indicated at 186 in FIGURE 6. The frictional contact of the squeegee blade 76 on the window will cause the cleaning head 64 to rock on brackets 78 until one brush 68, on the side of the squeegee toward the direction of travel of the head, is against the window. Rotation of the brush, determined by the direction of travel of the cleaning head since the two operations are synchronized, will throw the cleaning fluid from nozzles 90 against the squeegee blade 7 6, which wipes the window dry. The brush rotation and direction of lateral travel are indicated by directional arrows. When the head is moved in the opposite direction it will rock to the other side and brush rotation will reverse. The rotational speed of the brushes need not be very high, so there will be no splashing of the window by the trailing brush which is held clear of the window. However, if necessary, the nozzles 99 could be operated individually by a simple valve actuated by the rocking of the cleaning head. Excess fluid, usually water and a detergent, is collected in funnel 96 and drained to tank 14. After a lateral pass is completed the cleaning head is lowered on the vertical track and a return pass is made, the cycle being repeated until the required area is covered. Cleaning head 64 is then retracted and the machine moved across the face of the building to the next area to be cleaned.

A great advantage of the remote control, particularly by radio, is that the operator is free to move around in the building and can monitor and control the machine from inside the actual window being washed. Left and right motions of the machine would, of course, be oriented from the operators point of view inside the building, to avoid confusion as to direction. When necessary the machine is easily raised to the top of the building, or lowered to the ground, or even serviced through an open window to replenish the cleaning fluid and empty the drainage tank.

When the machine is being moved over the face of the building, the crawler belt will allow the machine to traverse vertical obstructions, such as ribs, columns and the like up to a reasonable size. Wheels 114 will ride over sills and ledges, the machine being fully supported from the overhead suspension carriage.

It is understood that minor variation from the form of the invention disclosed herein may be made without departure from the spirit and scope of the invention, and that the specification and drawings are to be considered as merely illustrative rather than limiting.

I claim:

1. A window washer for high rise buildings with fixed glass windows, comprising:

a machine having a casing with a Wall-confronting side;

a suspension carriage mounted for traversing motion along the top of a Wall containing windows to be washed, said suspension carriage having vertically adjustable hoist drive means by which said machine is suspended;

horizontal and vertical track means fixed on said casing;

a cleaning head movably mounted on said track means and having drive means operable for horizontal and vertical motion, selectively;

and remote control means for said drive means operable by an attendant inside fixed glass windows.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 and including wall engaging drive means mounted on said wall-confronting side of said casing;

and actuating means coupled to said suspension carriage and said lateral drive means to move the suspension carriage and said machine horizontally in synchronization.

3. A window washer according to claim 2, and wherein said remote control means has a plurality of controls producing distinct control signals for each of the actions of the window washer, each of said drive means and actuating means having a control unit responsive to the related signals.

4. A window washer according to claim 2, wherein said lateral drive means comprises a pair of horizontally spaced wheels rotatable about vertical axes, and an endless belt extending between and around said wheels.

5. A window washer according to claim 2 and including electromagnetic projecting from said wall-confronting side to close contact with a wall, said electromagnets being interconnected with said hoist drive means and said lateral drive means, to de-energize the magnets when either of the drive means is actuated.

6. A window washer according to claim 2, and including wheels mounted below said casing for rotation about a horizontal axis, and actuating means connected to said wheels to extend the wheels into engagement with the wall surface and displace said lateral drive means clear of the wall.

7. A window washer according to claim 6, wherein said actuating means for said wheels is coupled to said hoist drive means to extend the wheels when the hoist is operated.

8. A window washer according to claim 1, wherein said cleaning head comprises a frame, a pair of spaced brushes mounted on said frame for rotation about vertical axes, a squeegee blade mounted between said brushes, the window contacting edge of the blade projecting beyond a tangent common to the two brushes, whereby only one brush can contact a window simultaneously with the squeegee blade.

9. A window washer according to claim 8 and including a carriage movable on said tracks, telescopic members extending from said carriage on the wall confronting side thereof, said cleaning head being pivotally mounted on said telescopic members to swing about a vertical axis, and actuating means connected to extend and retract said telescopic members.

10. A window washer according to claim 8 and including a cleaning fluid reservoir and a drainage tank in said casing, said reservoir having a pump, nozzles mounted on said cleaning head frame directed toward said brushes, a delivery hose connected from said pump to said nozzles, fluid collecting means on the lower end of said frame, and a drainage hose extending from said collecting means to said drainage tank.

11. A window washer according to claim 1 and including magnetic means projecting from said wall-confronting side for close contact with a wall.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,693,609 11/1954 Briceno 15-103 3,056,153 10/1962 Laughter 15-50 3,080,592 3/1963 Hassage 15-50 3,292,193 12/1966 Littin 15-50 3,298,052 1/1967 Wolfe 1550 FOREIGN PATENTS 250,862 4/ 1964 Australia.

CHARLES A. WILLMUTH, Primary Examiner.

E. L. ROBERTS, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A WINDOW WASHER FOR HIGH RISE BUILDINGS WITH FIXED GLASS WINDOWS, COMPRISING: A MACHINE HAVING A CASING WITH A WALL-CONFRONTING SIDE; A SUSPENSION CARRIAGE MOUNTED FOR TRAVERSING MOTION ALONG THE TOP OF A WALL CONTAINING WINDOWS TO BE WASHED, SAID SUSPENSION CARRIAGE HAVING VERTICALLY ADJUSTABLE HOIST DRIVE MEANS BY WHICH SAID MACHINE IS SUSPENDED; HORIZONTAL AND VERTICAL TRACK MEANS FIXED ON SAID CASING; A CLEANING HEAD MOVABLY MOUNTED ON SAID TRACK MEANS AND HAVING DRIVE MEANS OPERABLE FOR HORIZONTAL AND VERTICAL MOTION, SELECTIVELY; AND REMOTE CONTROL MEANS FOR SAID DRIVE MEANS OPERABLE BY AN ATTENDANT INSIDE FIXED GLASS WINDOWS. 